Volunteers, Families and friends gathered once again at the Ward Villa Senior Complex Thanksgiving Day in Los Angeles, to serve dinner to the seniors who reside there, pack and deliver a hot meal to the seniors, sick and shut in throughout the Los Angeles area and surrounding communities. Plenty of food was made available to the dinner guests, including turkey, greens, green beans, dressing, yams, mac and cheese, bread, salad, cranberry sauce and cold beverages. Every recipient of the delicious meal received a Los Angeles Sentinel newspaper, a letter, a hot meal, a cold drink, dessert and an after dinner mint in a recyclable bag.

The dining room was set-up like a 5 star restaurant complete with entertainment, beautifully decorated tables and dinnerware for the seniors and their guests that were served onsite.

Multiple generations of families came out to volunteer including the immediate family of the late Brenda Marsh-Mitchell, Jackie Dupont-Walker, The Bakewell Family, Angela Howard, Jannie McKinney, Janet Randolph, Liza Smith, Everett Courtney and so many more. This has become a family tradition over the years.

There was a constant stream of volunteers all day. Where one group left out another one just picked up. It was a beautiful display of giving and loving hearts giving back to those in need. Volunteers of all ages helped with set-up, packaging meals for delivery, delivering, serving meals, clean-up and breakdown. The girl scouts help set the tables in the dining room and the grandsons of the late Brenda Marsh-Mitchell, Mitchell Thomas, age 7 and Kennedy Mitchell-Egbo, age 8 helped to deliver over 100 meals to Good Shepherd Manor.

Volunteers came and went throughout the day, smiling and only too happy and excited to serve. Handshakes and smiles went all around, people greeting each other, while eagerly awaiting their assignments. People like television judge Mablean Ephriam, who served at each station, along with District 9 Councilmember Curren Price, who also donated turkey for the dinner, and School Boardmember of District #1, Dr. George McKenna took time out of their holiday to help Mothers In Action give back to the elders, sick and shut in of our community.

“On behalf of Mother In Action and the thousands of people we serve, we would like to thank each and everyone who donated money, goods, services and time to make this event a success. Brenda Marsh-Mitchell left us a strong footprint to follow and I think she would have been very proud of the work that we did today” said Tracy Mitchell new MIA president.

Mothers In Action would like to thank wife and staff member of Council President Herb Wesson, Fabian Wesson and Trudie Abraham she said, who donate their time to the event each year and deliver meals to the senior residents of Rosa Park Villas. Others MIA would like to thank include:

Assemblymember Isadore Hall

Assemblymember Reggie Jones Sawyer

Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas

Council President Herb Wesson

Los Angeles Unified School District member George McKenna (District 1)

Carliss McGhee (president of the Inglewood School Board)

Jackie Dupont Walker (Ward Economic Dev Corp)

Bank of America (Donated bags)

Brandi Burks (owner of What the Funnel)

Brandiva & Sir Jerks

Charlette Wilburn (who donated sodas)

Chef Marilyn

Department of Sanitation

Glory Foods

Host of Volunteers and donors

The Los Angeles Sentinel

The L.A. Watts Times

The Bakewell Family Foundation

“The success of the event could not have been possible without them,” Mitchell said. “We were able to provide over 1,500 people with a Thanksgiving Meal this year because of the support we received. Every year we donate all of the remaining food to the homeless mission for further distribution.”